She ran three miles around the park downstairs, her whole body warm and loose. Darcy wiped the sweat from her brow and headed home. Approaching her building's entrance, she saw a middle-aged man standing there, repeatedly looking up. She didn't pay much attention, assuming he was a relative visiting someone. As she got closer, the man looked increasingly familiar. When they were face-to-face, Darcy finally matched his features to a man buried deep in her memory. She froze. Her entire body went rigid. After the rigidity came a surge of fury that rushed to her head. The man, too, seemed to guess who she was. He stepped forward, calling her name tentatively. "Are you... Darcy?" Darcy reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Shut up. That's not me!" she snapped coldly, then turned and strode away. John now felt certain. This girl was his daughter. He chased after her. "Darcy! I'm your father! I came to see you!" Darcy's eyes had already reddened, not from emotion or heartache, but from sheer anger at the words of this so-called biological father. A man who abandoned his wife and child for wealth and status, who hadn't shown his face for over twenty years—what right did he have to show up now and claim to be her father? What kind of shameless man could say such a thing? Darcy stopped abruptly and turned around. She spoke slowly, enunciating each word. "Sir, you have the wrong person. I lost my father when I was five. He died." John was stunned. What? My daughter thought I was dead?He gritted his teeth. Is this how Ione raised her? How outrageous! "Sweetheart, don't listen to your mother! I'm not dead! I'm right here! I'm your father!" he pleaded, pulling out his wallet and extracting a small photograph. He held it out to her. "Look! I still have a picture of you when you were little. I'm your dad!" Darcy snatched the photo from his hand. Riiip— Then another riiiip— The small photo was instantly torn into shreds that scattered in the air. John was shocked. "Darcy—" Darcy cut him off again, her voice icy. "Sir, I'll say it one more time. You have the wrong person. If you continue to harass me, I will call the police." Hearing his daughter threaten to call the police, John immediately retracted his hand.He could only watch, sighing repeatedly, as Darcy walked away with decisive steps. Darcy ran all the way home, her eyes still red. Ione noticed immediately. "Darcy? What's wrong? Have you been crying?" "No." Darcy forced a smile. "Just got something in my eye. So many bugs in the park. Bad enough in winter, imagine summer." She spoke as she headed for the bathroom. Muted sobs melted into the sound of running water, quickly swallowed up. Darcy wiped her face with a towel, took a deep breath, and quickly composed herself. John's sudden appearance had caught her off guard. But she was no longer a naive girl. Tempered by life, Darcy was stronger now than she'd ever been. It was her turn to be her mother's support. On the Christmas Eve when she was five, her mother came home, hugged her tightly, and cried with a broken heart. "Darcy, from now on, it's just you and me." Little Darcy, understanding nothing, looked up innocently and asked, "What about Daddy?" "He... won't be coming back." "Why?" "He's gone." "Oh." She thought "gone" meant he had died. It wasn't until high school that she learned the truth—her father hadn't died at all. He'd dumped them and rushed to marry into a rich family. All these years, she and her mother had moved on. Without John, they had built a good life. Now he was back. Whatever his motive, she would never accept him. Darcy didn't tell her mother about meeting John downstairs.After breakfast, Ione said she needed to go to the supermarket for some last-minute holiday groceries. "Darcy, I'm going to the store. We're missing a few things." Darcy quickly stopped her. "Mom, let me go. You stay home and rest." "I'll go with you." Darcy grabbed her keys and headed for the door first. "I've got it. You rest." "Oh, alright. Be careful," Ione said with a resigned smile. Darcy is acting a bit strange today. She didn't think too much about it, offered a few more reminders, and turned back to the kitchen. It was Christmas Eve. In previous years, with Kaia, the three of them had celebrated happily together. This year, it was just the two of them, but the Christmas Eve dinner still had to be special. The holiday spirit had to be there.Thinking of Kaia, Ione sighed inwardly. What happened to that child? How did she drift so far away? Downstairs, Darcy had deliberately changed her clothes and put on a hat. At the stairwell entrance, she looked around. Seeing no sign of John, she sighed in relief, got in her car, and drove towards the supermarket. As Christmas approached, traffic in Aethelburg had thinned considerably.